Be anxious for nothing, but in everything by prayer and supplication, with thanksgiving, let your requests be made known to God. ~ Philippians 4:6
This is the verse that I knew, but chose not to live last summer as I was very anxious anticipating all the changes professionally of a new district, school, and grade. This combined with continued home renovations was unnerving me to say the least.
This is the exact verse on the page of a prayer journal one of my students gave to me on Friday, our last day of school. The verse is printed on the page immediately next to his personal note to me. Wouldn't you know that each page of the journal has truth from God's word and one of the next pages says:
To everything there is a season, a time for every purpose under heaven.~Ecclesiastes 3:1
Amen! I am thankful that I am not in charge of choosing the purpose or seasons of my life. Instead, God in his infinite wisdom and meticulous planning prepared each of these before I was born (Psalm 139).
This Spring has been full of new life, spiritual growth, and celebration. Now that school is out, I'll include a few pictures of what God's been up to in my life. This has been a season of building and gathering friendships, laughing and celebrating, a time of planting, and a time to be born!
In February, my friend, Emilie, came out to visit She helped out in my classroom and we traveled to Redwood forests and Monterey. It was special to share my students with her for a few days and to show her around 'my world'!
In March, a few friends and I hosted Kristin's baby shower.
In May, my students and their parents came to celebrate all they've learned this year at an open house. In this area, it's popular to have an 'Open House' each spring to showcase projects completed throughout the year. It was rewarding to visually see the projects that have taught both the students and myself.
In May, Baby Sellers arrived just a few days late. We are all thrilled to finally meet the little one we've been praying for the past 9 months!
"The Lord has done great things for us and we are filled with joy." ~Psalm 126:3
This time of year naturally brings reflection on God's faithfulness throughout the school year. Yet God's fingerprints are evident, not only on the closing school year, but on many long awaited events that have taken place this past week. So, I'm sharing each of them with you, in hopes that you may also rejoice and stand in awe of what he's done. Some may seem insignificant, but I feel like they prove God delights in demonstrating his love through big and little things.
Saturday, May 10th: Baby Shower, Weights, and Mulch
- The day began with a baby shower for one of my friends.
- After the shower I went to look for hand weights with a gift card I had. Believe it or not, the store only had one box of weights for exactly the amount of my gift card, 5 lbs, and purple! Perfect.
- Later that evening Paul and I were at Lowes browsing the garden section. We've needed mulch for our vegetable garden, but had been putting it off. An employee walks up to us and says he has 5 bags of opened mulch in the color we needed for a $1 each. (They would've been 3-4 dollars regular price.)
Monday, May 12th: Sold
- Paul sold a car he'd' been working for the past two months.
Wednesday, May 14th: Scholarship
- I received a scholarship for the three classes I took between January and April. It paid for over half of the cost!
Thursday, May 15th: Outing with Students
- Schools in this area have jog-a-thons to raise money for the PTA. My school awarded the top 9 fund raisers a limo ride to a pizza buffet and movie. Since three of the students were in my class, I was invited to go! They hired a substitute for half the day and off I went!
Friday, May 16th: Bible Study Group: Baby and Team mate
I meet with two friends weekly to study God's word. We met while teaching on the same team 2 years ago. Even though we've all taught at different schools this year, God's continued to grow our friendships.
- Kristin gave birth to a healthy baby girl. Although the little one decided to be a few days late, we'd been anticipating her arrival for weeks. Not knowing the gender of the baby had us all in suspense throughout Kristin's pregnancy.
- At nearly the same time I received a picture of the baby, I received another text from our other Bible Study member. God gave me the gift of her friendship while mentoring her 2 years ago during her first year of teaching. She applied to my school system back in March. 90 applicants were chosen to be interviewed for around 10 positions. She was hired for one of the open positions without being told where or what she'd be teaching. We'd all been waiting to hear her placement. The news was out....her placement is none other than the room right beside of me, at my school and in my grade next year. Unbelievable!
